A TOP HEART DOCTOR BLAMED THE MANUFACTURING PROCES

A TOP HEART DOCTOR BLAMED THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR

A FREAK ACCIDENT WHICH CAUSED A HEART VALVE TO DISINTEGRATE, KILLING

A 26 YEAR OLD HAYES WOMAN.

DR BRYN WILLIAMS, A HEART SPECIALIST AT ST THOMAS’S, SAID

THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS HAD BEEN SCRUNISED AFTER THE INCIDENT AND

THE POSSIBLE CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN ISOLATED – ‘THAT IS, THE

AMOUNT OF FORCE USED TO SHRINK THE SEWING RING ONTO ITS CARBON

HOUSING ON THE VALVE.

‘

AND HE SAID THAT SHORTLY AFTER THE DEATH OF MRS ANJUM HASSAN

HE FOUND ANOTHER VALVE WITH ‘A LOOSE HOUSING JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO

PUT IT IN A PATIENT – I DID NOT USE IT’.

BUT HE TOLD SOUTHWARK CORONERS COURT THAT HE WOULD STILL GO

ON USING THE ‘DUROMEDICS BYLEAFLET VALVE’ MADE BY HEMEX INTERNATIONAL

OF AUSTIN, TEXAS.

‘I HAVE USED THE SAME MAKE OF VALVE OVER ONE HUNDRED TIMES

BEFORE IN TWO YEARS WITHOUT ANY TROUBLE.

‘IT IS AN EXCELLENT VALVE AND MORE DURABLE IN ORDINARY USE

THAN MOST OTHER VALVES.

I THINK THIS WAS A ONE OFF.

‘

EARLIER THE COURT HEARD THE VALVE WAS FITTED INTO 26 YEAR

OLD MRS ANJUM HASSAN, IN MAY 1985.

IN DECEMBER THAT YEAR, MRS HASSAN

OF CRANESWATER, HARLINGTON, HAYES, MIDDLESEX, COLLAPSED AT WORK.

DOCTORS AT FIRST THOUGHT THAT THE VALVE HAD BEEN JAMMED OPEN

AND DRUGS WERE PRESCRIBED.

ONLY WHEN THESE FAILED TO WORK DID THEY

OPERATE.

THEY FOUND THAT ONE OF THE VALVE’S CUSPS HAD BECOME DETACHED

AND HAD TRAVELLED AROUND THE BLOOD STREAM TO HER LUNGS, EVENTUALLY

KILLING HER.

THERE FOLLOWED A CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE VALVES AMERICAN

MAKERS AND DR WILLIAMS OVER HOW THE VALVE COULD HAVE BECOME DAMAGED.

‘THE CUSP BREAKING AWAY AND GOING INTO THE CIRCULATION HAS

NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE WITH THIS TYPE OF VALVE ALTHOUGH OTHER MAKES

HAVE HAD FAILURES DOCUMENTED’.

DISMISSING A REPORT BY DR FRED SCHOEN, A HEART SPECIALIST IN

BOSTON, MASSACHUSSETTS, WHO SAID HE THOUGHT THE VAVLVE HAD BEEN

DAMAGED AS IT WAS BEING FITTED DR WILLIAMS ADDED: ‘THE REPORT IS AN

EXCEEDINGLY TENUOUS ARGUMENT TO SHIFT BLAME FROM THE MANUFACTURERS.

‘

REPLYING TO DR SCHOEN’S CLAIM THAT THE VALVE COULD HAVE BEEN

DAMAGED WITH FORCEPS DR WILLIAMS SAID: ‘USING FORCEPS TO HOLD THE

VALVE BY ITS SEWING RING IS ACCEPTABLE.

I DO NOT ACCEPT THAT THAT

WOULD DAMAGE THE VALVE’.

CORONER SIR MONTAGUE LEVINE SAID THAT THE INVESTIGATION HAD

BEEN HAMPERED BY THE LOSS OF MRS HASSAN’S CASE NOTES FROM ST THOMAS’S

HOSPITAL.

THE CORONER ADDED: ‘WHY DID THE VALVE BREAK? THERE ARE ALL

SORTS OF OPINIONS AND AT THE END OF THE DAY IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAY

WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY WHAT HAPPENED.

‘THE DOCTORS’ ORIGINAL DIAGNOSIS OF A STUCK VALVE WAS WRONG

– BUT THE INCIDENT WAS A RARITY.

‘

VERDICT : MISADVENTURE.

ENDS